amaranthine
by Ten-Faced
Summary: I want to die now from all my regrets. – demon slayer/orchid, twoshot. For UPP.
1. Chapter 1

_amaranthine_

I want to die now from all my regrets. – demon slayer/orchid.

* * *

"Don't fight for me," she tells him, her small hands on his arm with a surprisingly strong grip like iron.

He doesn't know how she knows about his intent to advocate for leniency. "What about Lotus?" he asks her gently.

She flinches. "I-I . . . ."

He knows that she _does_ want to live, see her brother again, see Gelimer die a torturous death and laugh again happily. He just needs to remind her by stirring the embers until he can reignite the fire within her.

Orchid does make things difficult, though. "I-I'm not strong enough."

"I fought for my brother, too," he reminds her. "I know you're capable of showing remorse. You can still repent."

Her violet eyes fill with tears, but she still smiles. "Do you think so?"

"I know so," he says confidently and hopes he's changed her mind.

She remains still. "No," she says in the end. "I've done terrible things."

"So have I."

"But not many remember it, and you want to repent for your actions. I don't. I'd do it all again to bring Lotus back," she pouts, and a little of the old Orchid shines through the nearly-empty shell she's become. "I'd just make sure that Gelimer died 'accidently'."

She giggles at the idea, and as 'wrong' as it is to laugh at the idea of someone being killed off, he laughs with her. "You don't know for sure that the Alliance will order your execution."

"I do."

There is no laughter now. "And you're not going to protest?"

She shrugs. "I've done bad things."

"But what about Lotus?" they've come a full circle now and it's her move that will decide whether they'll repeat the cycle or start down a new path of options.

Orchid nibbles on her bottom lip, a habit from centuries ago she still has. "I can't face his old body again."

"It's still him -"

"That thing," her voice shakes with anger, "is not my brother."

The petite blonde is upset. He promised himself he wouldn't upset her. "Alright," he says, backing down. He knows when he's lost.

A few minutes of semi-comfortable silence later, he stands up to leave when she speaks again. "And I know you'll bring Gelimer to justice."

She _does_ want to live. But the way she wants to live is an old way, a picturesque world identical to the past when she was young and carefree and happy with her brother at her side. A world that's been shattered by betrayal and heartbreak.

Without that world the little flower girl will wither away. She's chosen to give up.

He leaves her feeling like he's failed.

* * *

As sad as it is . . . the Alliance and the Resistance probably won't forgive Orchid like they did to the DS.

The actually-explains-stuff summary: Hearing that Orchid will most likely be sentenced to death, the Demon Slayer comes to try and convince her to fight for her life. Unfortunately, she feels that she doesn't have anything to live for anymore.

(that didn't explain anything.)

The vague summary comes from a sentence in one of the English translations to the Vocaloid song 'Butterfly on your right shoulder'. Neither this song or 'Alligator Sky' is anything remotely similar to this story, but it's what I listened to while writing.

For the Unusual Pairings Project. See Profile for details.


	2. Chapter 2

One by one, his former fellow comrades fall at the hands of the surging Alliance. Hilla has been killed, her body eternally preserved with the beauty she sacrificed everything else for. Von Leon lies buried in his rose garden as a man, not a beast, and Queen Ifia's weeping ghost is no longer visible to any explorers. The Dream Manipulator fades away, a ghost of corporeal existence slipping out of reality now that the malice and promises of power and desires keeping her alive was gone. The new Transcendent of Time is the one to slay Will, revenge for the Mirror World and the time lost in imprisonment.

Lotus's body had been used for the Black Mage. The Heroes dealt the final blow and finished the evil off.

He himself killed Arkarium . . . and Damien. Arkarium laughed until the end, blood mixed with saliva dribbling down his chin as he sneered in his face despite his wing impaling the dark Pontiac through his chest.

Damien . . . Damien had smiled at him. Smiled, ignoring the pain, and told him that he forgave him for everything. That it was alright. That he was to never worry or feel guilt over this action.

He had cried for days, his locket clutched in his hands.

And Orchid?

Orchid had been sentenced to death.

The remnants of the Alliance gather to watch her execution, to see evil answer to justice at last. With Gelimer killed by Xenon and most of the 'evil' Black Wings beaten to death by the furious citizens of Edelstein on the night of the Uprising, Orchid is really the only prisoner of importance they have. The only real example.

Luminous sacrificed his life to take the Black Mage with him again, this time to the realms of death. Claudine had broken both legs and would never recover full use over them. Checky had disappeared and was still missing. Mastema had been killed by Arkarium before he had ended the old man himself. Cygnus was still in a coma from overexerting her powers. Countless other explorers, knights, Resistance members and members of the Alliance were hurt, missing or dead.

Then there's still Grandis and Darmoor to be dealt with, too. But because their soldiers all need their morale boosted, they choose to have a sacrifice for higher spirits.

They choose Orchid as the sacrifice for hope.

Brought out for all to see, she is pale and dressed in a plain white dress, her hair out of her usual ponytails. Gaunt, pale and looking older than her usual self, she looks guilty.

At the same time, she looks pure and innocent. A fallen angel, maybe.

As her evil deeds are read aloud, she raises her head and turns her head slowly, violent eyes searching for something – some_one_. He knows what she is doing, and waits because wine-coloured hair and black wings stick out in a crowd.

When her eyes fall on him at last, she smiles, a real smile, moments before Claudine reads out the sentence. ". . . as such, the Alliance has voted for a punishment of death."

Her death is to be swift, a clear example of higher moral ground. Or, at least, the appearance of higher moral ground. A painless poison in a jail cell would certainly be quick and Orchid could die in privacy with her dignity, but it just isn't showy enough for high moral raising.

Instead, they bring in a bishop. A powerful Genesis should definitely be symbolic – a burst of light to end the last traces of evil.

He leaves the arena before the bishop can execute her, but the cheers following her death still reach his ears just as he desperately stumbles outside.

_One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten . . . ._

He manages ten steps before he has to lean on a wall and retch.


End file.
